CHAPTER LX.

THE COMMONWEALTH.

CONTEMPORARY MONARCHS.

EMP of GERM. K. OF FRANCE. K. or SPAIN.

Ferdinand III 1658 Lewis XIII. Philip IV.

{1649.} The confusions which overspread England after the murder
of Charles I., proceeded as well from the spirit of refinement and
innovation which agitated the ruling party, as from the dissolution of
all that authority, both civil and ecclesiastical, by which the nation
had ever been accustomed to be governed. Every man had framed the model
of a republic; and, however new it was, or fantastical, he was eager
in recommending it to his fellow-citizens, or even imposing it by force
upon them. Every man had adjusted a system of religion, which, being
derived from no traditional authority, was peculiar to himself; and
being founded on supposed inspiration, not on any principles of human
reason, had no means, besides cant and low rhetoric, by which it
could recommend itself to others. The levellers insisted on an equal
distribution of power and property, and disclaimed all dependence and
subordination. The Millenarians, or Fifth Monarchy men, required, that
government itself should be abolished, and all human powers be laid in
the dust, in order to pave the way for the dominion of Christ, whose
second coming they suddenly expected. The Antinomians even insisted,
that the obligations of morality and natural law were suspended, and
that the elect, guided by an internal principle more perfect and divine,
were superior to the beggarly elements of justice and humanity. A
considerable party declaimed against tithes and a hireling priesthood,
and were resolved that the magistrate should not support by power
or revenue any ecclesiastical establishment. Another party inveighed
against the law and its professors; and, on pretence of rendering more
simple the distribution of justice, were desirous of abolishing the
whole system of English jurisprudence, which seemed interwoven with
monarchical government. Even those among the republicans who adopted not
such extravagancies, were so intoxicated with their saintly character,
that they supposed themselves possessed of peculiar privileges; and all
professions, oaths, laws, and engagements, had, in a great measure,
lost their influence over them. The bands of society were every
where loosened; and the irregular passions of men were encouraged by
speculative principles, still more unsocial and irregular.

The ro